Primer Shortage ?

I was at a gun show near Milwaukee today and never have seen so many people. I found a brick of Fed. small pistol for just under $40.00, I had to pass. I prefer Win primers but going to try Mag Tech which are going for around $32.00 a 1000s.

Prices are up $300.00 to $500.00 across the board on black guns and they were selling reloaded ammunition at a fevered pitch. I think it only going to get worse. Good luck my brothers.

I think we are probably nearing the end for a number of reasons. When there is money to be made, as is the case now in primers in particular, we are going to see manufacturers Worldwide ramping up production in order to get their fair share of the windfall profits. It may take a couple of months, but I suspect we will soon be seeing primers manufactured anywhere from China to Australia hitting the shelfs of our local suppliers.

Prices are likely to be high, but only at first, and quality will probably be an issue in some cases but it's something we may have to live with for a while. I may try a few Chinese primers, but in the case of powder, I'm going to wait unless I'm sure the quality and burn characteristics are very similar to powders made in the US.

Also, I think we will soon see the time when the "hoarders" realize just how much money they have "tied up" in primers and other components and many may feel the need to unload a few (particularly if they can at a profit) to meet some expenses unrelated to ammo hoarding such as making their car and mortgage payments and still have enough money left for groceries.

Although our current economic problems are real, IMO the chances of it producing some type of complete socioeconomic collapse are far less than a few of these hoarders seem to believe. Supply and Demand works, and although it may in some cases take a period of time for the supply to catch up, if there are profits to be made, the supply will soon be arriving.

The supply of primers around me seems to be increasing ever so slowly. Think that we have seen the worse part, now for the recovery.

Yes DKA, let's move to recovery. When we move toward that direction, remember the dealers that tried to stay fair on their pricing during our time of need! On the flip side, also remember the ones that tried to "stick it to us" when they could get away with it!!

^^^^^^ +2 to that. Most of the shops round here have been reasonable with prices and been limiting primers to anywhere from 200-500 per week/customer. No problem with that give everyone a shot at getting some and keep the gougers from hoarding.
Been seeing more deliveries being filled lately. Supply must be going up. Small rifle had been the hardest to find in these parts.

there is no conspericy.primers are in short supply because its going in to factory ammo.who says there are no hoarders.go to other sites and see the pictures of pallets of ammo.also its being shot up.some go out and shoot 500 at a sitting.
how are the companies going to increas production when they have 3 shifts 24/7.and dont say get more machines thats a custom made item.and take many months to produce.if any of you had aglimmer of machine work you would not make stupid remarks.it degrades all of us.primers are one of the hardest to make as they are not completly machine made it takes alot of very carfull hand work.
privi Partizian just had an explosion at their plant and 9 people died.so their out for a while.

there is no conspericy.primers are in short supply because its going in to factory ammo.who says there are no hoarders.go to other sites and see the pictures of pallets of ammo.also its being shot up.some go out and shoot 500 at a sitting.
how are the companies going to increas production when they have 3 shifts 24/7.and dont say get more machines thats a custom made item.and take many months to produce.if any of you had aglimmer of machine work you would not make stupid remarks.it degrades all of us.primers are one of the hardest to make as they are not completly machine made it takes alot of very carfull hand work.
privi Partizian just had an explosion at their plant and 9 people died.so their out for a while.

Domestic production is probably close to running 24/7 and will continue to rake in the windfall profits until this fraction of 1% of all shooter who seem to believe they will not sleep well at night without 50,000 primers of all sizes are stacked in neat rows in their basements realize they have more money tied up in reloading supples that they have in their home, and finally reach a point where small bits of sanity begin to sink in. In the meantime I would suspect we will soon begin to see primers made in other countries make their way onto our shelves. Primers made in China. Oh well, it seems practically everything else is now days.

Domestic production is probably close to running 24/7 and will continue to rake in the windfall profits until this fraction of 1% of all shooter who seem to believe they will not sleep well at night without 50,000 primers of all sizes are stacked in neat rows in their basements realize they have more money tied up in reloading supples that they have in their home, and finally reach a point where small bits of sanity begin to sink in. In the meantime I would suspect we will soon begin to see primers made in other countries make their way onto our shelves. Primers made in China. Oh well, it seems practically everything else is now days.

F. Prefect

Those "Made in China" primers will NEVER be on my bench! (If I don't HAVE to)

Those "Made in China" primers will NEVER be on my bench! (If I don't HAVE to)

I hear ya! But the quality a lot of the junk coming out of China has improved considerably in the past 10 years or so. I can remember when I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was synonymous with crap, now it's the best you can buy.

If I have to I might try some foreign primers if I can showhow find if they are non-corrosive, but powder and bullets?, I think I'll pass for the time being.

As noted on some previous post, the supply of primers is drying up at most of the major places-Midway,MidSouth,GanderMtn. etc. They seem readily available on GunBroker, at doubled prices. Gone the way as ammo has!

I'm actually seeing just the opposite. Sure, their are some crooks out there such as a guy trying to tell me that Obama has appointed some kind of gun czar and no reloading components will be available after this year and strongly urging me to buy them (yes, they had most sizes in stock) for $50.00/1000.

At the same time a local range and retailer had many sizes in stock for $27.95/1000 or 3.19/tray for local shooters only. With all the money that can be made manufacturing primers at these prices, we'll probably be floating in the darn things 6 months from now.

I'm actually seeing just the opposite. Sure, their are some crooks out there such as a guy trying to tell me that Obama has appointed some kind of gun czar and no reloading components will be available after this year and strongly urging me to buy them (yes, they had most sizes in stock) for $50.00/1000.

At the same time a local range and retailer had many sizes in stock for $27.95/1000 or 3.19/tray for local shooters only. With all the money that can be made manufacturing primers at these prices, we'll probably be floating in the darn things 6 months from now.

F. Prefect

Prefect, you may be seeing a change now=check the date the thread was started=3/6/09==we hope things are getting better??